Monkey See

1:13 pm

Thu August 1, 2013

Coffee Break: The Get Your 'Mary Poppins' Groove On Edition

* Having seen Cate Blanchett's electric Blanche DuBois, and had a public pretend-squabble with our own Bob Mondello about it, I felt like I was all up in Charles McNulty's head when I read his take on Blue Jasmine. [The Los Angeles Times]

* Long names. Languid looks. Lust, longing, and life perpetually turned up to 11. My colleagues Jasmine Garsd and Felix Contreras take apart the telenovela over at NPR Music's Alt.Latino, complete with a conversation about the music that drives and celebrates them. [Alt.Latino]

* My buddy Patrick Decker, who's a food stylist for people like Rachael Ray, sent me a link this morning to Slate's Browbeat item on a new Mary Poppins mashup from Pogo, aka Nick Bertke, and I've been bouncing around at my desk to it ever since. Thought I'd point it out, because who doesn't like a Mary Poppins mashup built on a nice laid-back groove? (Also, Happy Anniversary, Patrick and Stephan!) [Slate]

* Do you know about QI? The British quiz show with Stephen Fry? And his panel of notables whose job is to be smart and/or funny, and usually opt for the latter? Because I had somehow not seen it until last night, despite another friend's repeated recommendations. I may have giggled uncontrollably, much like Fry himself does in this outtake. Also, Google might help you find the one where the host hypnotizes a lobster. (Or possibly kills it; it's not quite clear.) Or the one where they're supposed to be talking about why a camel can't get through the eye of a needle, and end up riffing about how you might get a cat into a balloon. As you do. [The QI Elves]

* Should a show judge its characters? Is storytelling better when it's prescriptive or descriptive? James Poniewozik makes the case that Breaking Bad isn't obliged to serve justice to its compromised central character. [Time]

* If Jaws were made in 2014, it would feature Shia LaBeouf. "Bora Bora, you said. It had to be Bora freakin' Bora!" [The New York Times]